Biography

Joel McCrea

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Overview

Born
November 5, 1905 · South Pasadena, California, USA
Died
October 20, 1990 · Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA (pulmonary complications)
Birth name
Joel Albert McCrea
Nickname
- McFee
Height
6′ 2½″ (1.89 m)

Biography

One of the great stars of American Westerns, and a very popular leading man in non-Westerns as well. He was born and raised in the surroundings of Hollywood and as a boy became interested in the movies that were being made all around. He studied acting at Pomona College and got some stage experience at the Pasadena Community Playhouse, where other future stars such as Randolph Scott, Robert Young, and Victor Mature would also get their first experience. He worked as an extra after graduation from the University of Southern California in 1928 and did some stunt work. In a rare case of an extra being chosen from the crowd to play a major role, McCrea was given a part in The Jazz Age. A contract at MGM followed, and then a better contract at RKO. Will Rogers took a liking to the young man (they shared a love of ranching and roping) and did much to elevate McCrea's career. His wholesome good looks and quiet manner were soon in demand, primarily in romantic dramas and comedies, and he became an increasingly popular leading man. He hoped to concentrate on Westerns, but several years passed before he could convince the studio heads to cast him in one. When he proved successful in that genre, more and more Westerns came his way. But he continued to make a mark in other kinds of pictures, and proved himself particularly adept at the light comedy of Preston Sturges, for whom he made several films. By the late Forties, his concentration focused on Westerns, and he made few non-Westerns thereafter. He was immensely popular in them, and most of them still hold up well today. He and Randolph Scott, whose career strongly resembles McCrea's, came out of retirement to make a classic of the genre, Sam Peckinpah's Ride the High Country (1962). Scott stayed retired thereafter; McCrea made a couple of appearances in small films afterwards, but was primarily content to maintain his life as a gentleman rancher. He was married for fifty-seven years to actress Frances Dee, who survived him.
- IMDb mini biography by: Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>

Family

Spouse
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Parents
Relatives

Trivia

Katharine Hepburn was a friend of McCrea and his wife, actress Frances Dee. Hepburn reportedly felt he was one of the best actors with whom she had worked and was disappointed his career wasn't more successful. She reportedly believed McCrea should have been ranked alongside Spencer Tracy or Humphrey Bogart.
Well-respected as a horseman, he was regarded as one of the two best riders in Western films along with Ben Johnson, who had been a real cowboy.
Met the real Wyatt Earp in Hollywood in 1928 and ended up playing the iconic lawman in Wichita (1955) .
The grandson of a western stagecoach driver who had fought against the Apaches, he raised his own horses, was a passionate outdoorsman and large-scale rancher, invested wisely in livestock and real estate.
A very young McCrea was advised by Will Rogers to put the money he made from acting into real estate, a venture that made the novice actor a millionaire.

Quotes

I have no regrets, except perhaps one: I should have tried harder to be a better actor.
People say I'm a one-note actor, but the way I figure it, those other guys are just looking for that one right note.
[in 1978] I liked doing comedies, but as I got older I was better suited to do Westerns. Because I think it becomes unattractive for an older fellow trying to look young, falling in love with attractive girls in those kinds of situations . . . Anyway, I always felt so much more comfortable in the Western. The minute I got a horse and a hat and a pair of boots on, I felt easier. I didn't feel like I was an actor anymore. I felt like I was the guy out there doing it.
[about Ride the High Country (1962)] When it came out the studio didn't sell it. But the critics grabbed onto it. Neither Randy Randolph Scott nor or I had ever gotten such criticism. We were surprised, though we knew it wasn't a regular shoot-'em-up. I really enjoyed "Ride the High Country", Both Randy and I were washed-up actors playing washed-up lawmen.
After 87 pictures in 47 years, I knew when to quit.